It’s a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.

That being John F. Kennedy, who was gunned down in Dallas, of course.

I’ve been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I’ve watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled. As Americans yank their kids of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care ‘debate’ this summer.

The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama–making him into a vile object of disgust–into a crusade. It’s a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.

But I’ve been thinking about Dallas in 1963 because I’ve been recalling the history and how that city stood as an outpost for the radical right, which never tried to hide its contempt for the New England Democrat.

Now, in this this month’s Vanity Fair, Sam Kashner offers up in rich detail the hatred that ran wild in Dallas in 1963. To me, the similarity between Dallas in 1963 and today’s unhinged Obama hate is downright chilling.

Kashner’s fascinating cover story actually chronicles the professional struggles of writer William Manchester who was tapped by the Kennedy family, after the president’s assassination, to write the definitive book about the shooting. The Vanity Fair articles details the power struggles, and epic lawsuits, that ensued prior to Manchester’s publication.

Lieberman is the name and double cross is the game, but this should be no surprise to anyone who has, for the last eight years, watched this whiney little rat bastich stand up for the corporate government while disguised as a Democrat. That he is still in office, tells me that the corporate government still rules and that Obama, like any other POTUS, is the leader of this country in name only.

Holy Joe wouldn’t give up his government health care for any thing, with the exception of maybe the excellent health care system of Israel, for which he qualifies.

Israel, in fact, has a superior health plan to the US. So here we are suffering the Health Care Lies of Lieberman while Israel is still collecting billions of dollars in aid. It was all put in place before Barack, (a good friend to Israel) Obama was officially in office.

Israel has been a pioneer in the contemporary concept and practice of Public Health and as a result has one of the world’s healthiest populations. The country’s success in pursuing effective Public Health policies is reflected in the fact that a nation of immigrants, who have arrived during the past 54 years principally from North Africa, the former Soviet Union and Central Europe, has one of the highest average life expectancies in the world.

This has been accomplished despite the fact that Israel has absorbed Holocaust survivors and a large proportion of immigrants suffering from tuberculosis, malnutrition, heart disease and every type of cancer. At present, 25% of all cancer patients in Israel are newcomers from the former Soviet Union including tens of thousands from parts of the Ukraine and Belorussia who were exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear plant melt-down in 1987.

According to the Ministry of Health yearbook for 2001, the life expectancy for males (76.6) years) was topped only in Japan. Israeli women live longer than men, but do not fare as well in international statistical comparisons

What is public health?

Whereas medicine treats the health needs of an individual, public health (a discipline also known as public medicine or social medicine) deals with the health requirements of society as a whole. In fact, public health was a more popular concept in the 19th century when physicians realized that matters such as sewage amenities, cleanliness and a balanced diet would improve the health of the population . But as sanitary and dietary conditions improved and with such medical. discoveries as penicillin in the 20th century, much less emphaisis was placed on public health.

International community acknowledges importance of public health

Public health returned to the global agenda in 1975 at the WHO meeting in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, in the former Soviet Union. Leading health officials from every country in the world signed a covenant proclaiming that the health of the people and the provision of medical services must be the responsibility of national governments. Only the United States refused to sign the covenant, insisting that individuals rather than their governments must be responsible for the provision of health services for themselves and their families.

Of course most nations simply do not have the necessary resources to offer their citizens adequate health services. Even in developed and relatively affluent countries like Israel, the essential challenge facing public health policy is effective distribution of limited resources.

Israel emphasizes public health

The Zionist Movement in pre-state Israel, which combined the traditional Jewish concern for all people with an emphasis on societal needs, regarded public health as a top social, political and economic priority. By the time Israel declared its independence in 1948, a national health infrastructure was already in place. Mother-and-child care centers (Tipot Halav) administered the necessary vaccinations to new-born babies and advised parents on proper care of infants. Health insurance funds (Kupot Holim) offered day-to-day consultations with doctors and specialists, and insured members for hospitalization.

The National Health Insurance Law

Despite Israel’s commitment to providing health services for all of its citizens, by the early 90’s some six percent of Israelis were not insured through one of the four existing health funds – Kupat Holim Clalit, Maccabi, Me’uhedet and Le’umit. In 1994, the National Health Insurance Law was enacted and it was implemented the following year, rectifying this situation. Since then, all citizens have their health insurance paid by a tax on income (up to 4.8%) while their employer’s portion is collected by the National Insurance Institute, and passed on to the health insurance fund of the individual’s choice.
National expenditure

Israel’s national expenditure on health is typical for a western country. In 1999, the country spent 8.3% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health, down from a peak of 8.8% in 1994; the United States spent13.6% of its GDP on health care, Canada 9.5%, Japan 6.9% and the UK 7.6%. Of the Israeli expenditure, 41% was for hospitals and research, 39% for public clinics and preventive medicine and 9% for dental care. Israel spent $1,555 per capita on medicine.

i find it ironic that the republican party bills itself out as the party of family values, freedom, patriotism, small government and fiscal responsibility. where do i even start? the party who claims to be for freedom and the constitution- has shredded this precious document and left only the second amendment intact (and the whys became obvious to me after the infamous dhs document was ‘leaked.’) the party of ‘family values’ isn’t interested in keeping families intact. they are anti-choice for women when it comes to abortion but there doesn’t seem to be a line of right wingers waiting to adopt. they claim to be patriotic and many have the bumper magnets on their trucks that say ‘support our troops’- and then deny our military the proper equipment and medical care– and withhold pay so that many are losing their homes while on duty.

but hey- they at least got the fiscal responsibility down right? ……….

here’s my thought- these folks had a great plan to return the world to feudalism. they get to keep all of the money and power- and the rest of the 5 1/2 billion folks or so on the planet can serve them or die. they don’t care which. their idea of utopia is a few white rich folks- republican/rightwing of course- having everything while the masses go without. to that end, they slowly implemented a ‘free market capitalist agenda’ and globalized it. they bribed and blackmailed their way into the governments of the western world- and in america, they stole and laundered trillions of the taxpayer’s monies for their own gain. proof- you say- well, let’s put a few of the pieces together in the ‘new world order.’

folks who have followed this blog may remember the series i did back in 2006- it had about 5 parts and it followed rummy, cheney, et al from the start of their careers to the time i posted the series. i want to say around may, june of 2006 for those interested in the archives. that series took a look at pnac and some of the other groups that the key players belong to- but the names will be familiar as the same ones keep popping up wherever there is a corrupt stench- kissenger, rumsfeld, cheney, rockefeller, etc. these folks met each other and coalesced into a contingent in the 1970’s- most within or around the nixon administration. many were involved in the last bush’s administration. like bad pennies- these folks keep returning. and they aren’t dead yet.

they latched onto milton friedman’s ideology of pure capitalism and they watched as south american dictators (with help from our cia) put his theory into practice- through brutal death squads, torture, imprisonment and fear mongering. and then it spread to asia- and we saw again in china in the late 1980’s the rise of the capitalist dictators under the guise of communism- and finally they tried it here in america under cheney and rumsfeld. i believe that they looted our treasury- they morphed everything under the guise of homeland security and gutted departments like the fda, fcc, epa, etc- where did the money go? billions of dollars simply vanished in iraq- where did the money go? billions went into the coffers of private contractors (privatization was key under friedman’s theory) like halliburton and blackwater- where is that money?

and the rightwing neocons under the umbrella of the republican party gerrymandered and rigged elections- kept ‘winning’ seats. and they took over state and local governments until even their constituents noticed their infrastructures crumbling- where did the money go?

more recently, after president obama’s election- the whines of discontent from the right became more sinister. the religious right’s pulpits started sounding more militant with the neocon sound bites screaming from the tv from the trinity broadcast network. hate media led by limbaugh and hannity and fake news- um fox news- shrilly stirred the racist, fearful ignorant twenty percenters that rove courted so passionately. and the tea parties were ‘born.’ and news started to ooze out of the bible belt that the crazy whackjob wingnuts were hoarding bullets and ak 47’s because they believed that their second amendment rights would be stripped and the evil liberals would usurp their freedoms. and now, they threaten to secede. threaten to secede.

it’s unfortunate that most of the whackjobs are on the border with mexico- because i have a feeling that they were using gun running to finance their plans for upcoming civil war. because we can’t have a black man in the white house. and we can’t have a democrat because that will bring about the end times- although they are anxious for the rapture. but i digress…

the rightwing cannot and should not simply be ignored. they cannot be reasoned with as they are not rational. they want what they want- and are getting desperate. and a trap rat bites. they are going to do something big- whether it be a pandemic (the swine flu is a bit of an attempt at fearmongering), or a ‘terrorist attack’ or an assassination attempt on the president. make no mistake- the batshit crazy fringers in the twenty percenters of the palin party- are alive and well- and live in your town and are our neighbors. that should frighten us all more than a little bit.

More than 2,000 HuffPost citizen journalists signed up to report on their local tea parties, sending photos, videos, and written dispatches, and we’ve already received hundreds of photos (the complete Flickr slideshow is below, or check out the photostream here).

This article appeared in Israel Venture Capital Journal in June 2003 and is produced by permission of the publisher. If you want much information from this publication, you’ll have to subscribe. The more thousands of shekles you pay the more info you get.

Former congressman Dick Armey served as chairman of the select committee on Homeland security and was the principle architect of the homeland Security Act of 2002.

Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency,HSARPA modeled after DARPA is shown by the Googleplex to be hsarpa.com.

Israel Venture Capital: Views on 911

The enduring Israeli-American relationship has been based on shared values and common interests. The tragedy of 911 joined our nations in another way that neither of us wanted-as democracies challenged by the menace of terrorism.

The enduring Israeli-American relationship has been based on shared values and common interests. The tragedy of 911 joined our nations in another way that neither of us wanted-as democracies challenged by the menace of terrorism.

Like this:

mom saw gingrich on tavis smiley the other night- and when smiley asked him why the gop hasn’t delivered any solutions to any issues and just seemed to be griping about stuff- gingrich referred him to american solutions. i should have known better… sigh.

newt may or may not run for president in 2012. he left the door open by saying it depended on his family. uh huh. looks like he just recycled his old ‘exploratory’ website from 2008. and i guess i wonder what kind of polling they did- i must go read about that- because i can honestly say that out of the pages of platform i read- they aren’t my ideas of the direction america should go towards.

“The structure is now in place to advance a core set of “tri-partisan” (i.e. majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents), principles and solutions that will unite a majority of Americans and effect real change now and beyond the 2008 elections.

That blueprint for real change is codified in the “Platform of the American People” – a solutions-oriented agenda that represents a fundamental break from the red-versus-blue status quo. This unique political document validates our belief that the scale of change required is so large that a new approach (e.g. a Red, White and Blue Platform) to public policy is necessary and should be implemented across all levels of government, in all 513,000 elected offices.
Top 10 Reasons YOU Should Support the Platform

English should be the official language of government.

We want our elected leaders in Washington to focus on increasing the energy supplies of the United States and lowering the costs of gasoline and electricity.

The option of a single rate system should give taxpayers the convenience of filing their taxes with just a single sheet of paper.

Every worker should continue to have the right to a federally supervised secret ballot election when deciding whether to organize a union.

Keeping the reference to “One Nation Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance is very important.

Congress should make it a crime to advocate acts of terrorism, violent conduct, or the killing of innocent people in the United States.

We should dramatically increase our investment in math and science education.

We believe that if research indicates we could build clean coal plants in the United States with no carbon emissions, it would be important to build such plants as rapidly as possible.

Illegal immigrants who commit felonies should be deported.

We support giving a large financial prize to the first company or individual who invents a new, safer way to dispose of nuclear waste products.

so, this is the ‘core ten’ ideas. guess they should have proofread the website because in the page i linked to there’s a place to download the ten—- en espanol. yep. whatever newt.

the platform– is in pdf format- and from what i have read- it’s 12 pages or so- it looks like a goddamned rehash of the last 8 years under bush and a retread from when newt led his ‘republican revolution’ in 1994. nothing new- same god bullshit, illegal immigrant bullshit- what he doesn’t get is that there are already laws on the books and in the constitution to handle just about all of this platform. bush and cheney were too busy looting our life savings to be bothered.

Throughout history, there have been more than a few unfortunate and ill-conceived branding and marketing ideas to have been thrust into public view. I’m not just talking about minor infractions like the recent Cocaine energy drink or that children’s candy with the hard plastic “prizes” suitable for choking buried inside. I’m talking about serious failures. Probably the most famous example of an epic fail product was the diet pill known simply as “Ayds,” circa 1982. The slogan: “Why take diet pills when you can enjoy Ayds?” I’m not making that up.

In the past several years, this caliber of epic fail has also appeared at various political protests. There’s the infamous mullet-headed pro-war demonstrator holding a sign reading: “GET A BRAIN! MORANS.” And just a couple of weeks ago, there was this display of fail by a protester from the far-right blog Free Republic:

As the sign demonstrates, the funniest and most contradictory aspect of the recent far-right revolution is, hands down, the tea bag thing. But it’s not just about the double entendre aspect of “tea bagging.” A lot of it has to do with the idea that far-right conservatives are emulating the Boston Tea Party.

Let’s recap. It began with the on-air rant from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange by the Coward Rick Santelli — “coward” because he’s apparently too afraid to go on The Daily Show and, instead, Jim Cramer went on and took a beating for something that Santelli basically started. Nevertheless, according to one of the official tea bag websites, Santelli is credited as the patron saint of the movement.

And unless I’m mistaken, the basic idea of the tea bag revolution is to protest against government bailouts and in favor of tax cuts for the wealthiest five percent of Americans. Ultimately, the tea baggers (can I call them that?) appear to be against allowing the Bush’s tax cuts to expire. Strangely, they also appear to be against President Obama signing into law the largest middle class tax cut in history. They’re also against helping middle and working class “losers” keep their homes. (By the way, your neighbor’s mortgage isyour problem. Just watch your property values plummet as soon as there’s just one foreclosure on your block.)

This series of Obama policies, they say, portends tyranny in America. Of course none of the policies of the Bush administration were considered tyrannical by many of the current tea bag leaders. You know the list of Bush trespasses. The illegal searches and seizures, the illegal electronic eavesdropping and torturing. The suspension of habeas corpus, the record deficits, the doubling of the national debt and so on. None of that was tyrannical. But allowing the tax cuts for the wealthiest five percent to expire is absolutely the vanguard of totalitarianism.

So the organizers of the movement have picked up on Santelli’s tea party reference and are rebelling against higher taxes for the rich and corporations by purchasing thousands of tea bags and dumping them into various waterways.

To sum up: higher ’90s-era tax rates for the wealthy and corporations? Tyrannical. Tax cuts for the middle class? Also tyrannical. Therefore, emulate the Boston Tea Party as a means of underscoring these positions.

Here’s the problem.

The Boston Tea Party was ultimately precipitated by a massive corporate tax cut.

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